Novatianism

Novatianism was an early Christian sect which originated with the Libyan bishop Novatian in the 3rd century AD. The Novatianists had very strict rules which did not allow apostates to return to the Christian Church after the Roman persecutions, during which many Christians were forced to perform sacrifices to the gods or renounce their faith. Acesius, a later Novatianist bishop, attended the Council of Nicaea, and Constantine the Great sought for the Novatianists to rejoin the Church. The Novatianists were labelled as schismatics by the Catholic Church for denying that the Church had the power of absolution, and they later faded into obscurity.